Best. Vacation. Ever.
I don't really have time to write, but I wanted to say hello, or, as they say here, dumela.
I'm having a fantastic time. The camp consists of me, two Italians and 5 Batswana, and they are such fabulous, interesting people. I would kill for a hot shower with no spiders, (either, but both would be pure heaven) and to not feel like such an idiot every time I try to do something (so, first I light the campfire. Right. How do I do that? And then I cook the pap. Sure thing. What's pap?) but I'm learning a lot, about Botswana, about camping, about animals...
This weekend, the Italians and I will take a safari into the delta (the camp is on the edge, near a village), and we will see elephants and hippos and leopards and lions (in theory). But the park we're staying in has baboons and zebras and giraffes, and they come right up to our tent. Of course, for the baboons, it's because they want to steal our food, but until they succeed, I'll think they're cool.
I've only gone running once so far (the children in the village waved and one girl ran with me for a quarter-mile--they thought I was crazy...) and I'm not sure how often I'll get to go again. Everything takes a long time to do, between washing and cooking and the work at the camp. Plus, running makes me sweat, which means more showers. And I'm trying to minimize that.
Of course, the Batswana are used to all this, so while I'm sweaty and dusty and frizzy, they look like they're about to hit the clubs. (They're all about hip hop here. One guy told me that I remind him of the Julia Stiles character in Save the Last Dance. Suffice it to say, I'm not such a fly girl. Hee. But I'm taking the Julia Stiles thing as a compliment.)
Anyway, I'm having an amazing time, and I'll tell you more when I get home.
P.S. To Tim and Jackie: forgive me if I have to crawl during the VA Beach 1/2 marathon. Maybe I can get back into shape in August.
I'm having a fantastic time. The camp consists of me, two Italians and 5 Batswana, and they are such fabulous, interesting people. I would kill for a hot shower with no spiders, (either, but both would be pure heaven) and to not feel like such an idiot every time I try to do something (so, first I light the campfire. Right. How do I do that? And then I cook the pap. Sure thing. What's pap?) but I'm learning a lot, about Botswana, about camping, about animals...
This weekend, the Italians and I will take a safari into the delta (the camp is on the edge, near a village), and we will see elephants and hippos and leopards and lions (in theory). But the park we're staying in has baboons and zebras and giraffes, and they come right up to our tent. Of course, for the baboons, it's because they want to steal our food, but until they succeed, I'll think they're cool.
I've only gone running once so far (the children in the village waved and one girl ran with me for a quarter-mile--they thought I was crazy...) and I'm not sure how often I'll get to go again. Everything takes a long time to do, between washing and cooking and the work at the camp. Plus, running makes me sweat, which means more showers. And I'm trying to minimize that.
Of course, the Batswana are used to all this, so while I'm sweaty and dusty and frizzy, they look like they're about to hit the clubs. (They're all about hip hop here. One guy told me that I remind him of the Julia Stiles character in Save the Last Dance. Suffice it to say, I'm not such a fly girl. Hee. But I'm taking the Julia Stiles thing as a compliment.)
Anyway, I'm having an amazing time, and I'll tell you more when I get home.
P.S. To Tim and Jackie: forgive me if I have to crawl during the VA Beach 1/2 marathon. Maybe I can get back into shape in August.
posted by Noames at 11:11 AM
5 Comments:
Hooray for your awesome vacation!
I am re-reading The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency books in your honor. :-) (Highly recommended, if you have't read them yet.) I'd love to hear more about what your days are like!
I was wondering how you were doing. I would have loved to see you run there! It sounds like you're doing well. I look forward to the update when you return. Take care.
Irene
QUIT PANICKING!!! You are being active to some degree (probably more than you realize), so are losing conditioning much less quickly than you believe. Shoot an endangered animal for me! (I mean with a camera.)
Hey Miss Naomi,
Just got back from Ecuador late Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on your perspective) and P and I are now packing furiously for Pittsburgh. More or less, anyway. I just decided it was time for a break, so I came to your blog to see if you had posted in Botswana, and you had! Huzzah!
Sounds really awesome - when you get back to the US, you'll have to come to Pittsburgh so we can exchange photos and stories of Botswana, Ecuador, and all things exotic!
Appreciate yyour blog post
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